


A series of unfinished drabbles

by Lemu



Category: Homestuck
Genre: AND MUCH MORE BLUH BLUH, Ancestors, Creation, F/M, Grubs, Hurt/Comfort, Parenthood, Sadstuck, shai's fantroll
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-11-18
Updated: 2011-11-22
Packaged: 2017-10-26 06:21:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/279697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lemu/pseuds/Lemu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Exactly what it sounds like</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Creation

His life just… came into existence so suddenly. Paradox Space had put his body together, piece by piece. His tiny little feet, nubby horns just starting to poke through the black fuzz on his head, each flawless little strand of DNA by the trillions. It breathed life into him, consciousness, instinct, disposition, destiny…

The first thing he was aware of was his own heartbeat, fluttering rapidly like a mouse’s. He took in quick, shallow breaths as his senses came to him, and the world was cold and bright as he opened his eyes for the first time.

It is hard to describe how a newborn creature feels after being given sudden, unnatural life. For him, there was a long moment of shock, and not knowing what to make of himself. It took an outside stimuli, in his case, the brightness of his new world, to get a reaction from him. His legs twitched. That was all it took for him to become aware of his own body. He felt the muscles inside his move and control these six little limbs coming out of him. He wasn’t aware of what he was doing at first, but as the puzzle pieces in his mind came together, the faint nagging of instinct began to kick in.

He was laying upside-down. This wasn’t right. After getting a sense of what it up and what is down, and feeling his own center of gravity, he wiggled a bit and flailed his tiny feet. Getting the hang of controlling his own body, however, was going to prove a much more challenging task. He squeaked, startling himself by doing so, which only made him squeak louder. It wasn’t long before he was lost in a fit of fear and confusion.

This same process was going on with twenty three more individuals in that very room, eventually getting to the point where they were all shocked and frightened and crying out in squeaks and squeals.

From the point of their creation, it had been about five seconds, and Karkat Vantas had already had enough of this. Was there supposed to be this many? There was two of each of them! Sollux told him about this stage of the game, and Karkat knew what his duty was, but he thought he only had to send themselves out. That would be 12 grubs. He had 24 on his hands? Did he accidentally press a button twice? Ah fuck, he’d cloned each one, including himself. Like the world needed two of him.


	2. blurbs from parenthood fic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These are multiple drabbles based on the Parenthood fic that is currently being revised. Progress is slow, but the fic has not been abandoned.

Terezi resisted the urge to touch the shifting egg, and instead watched wordlessly as her matesprit did, as the opaque membrane shuddered and stretched. After a tense moment, a tiny tear opened up in the membrane, and it became still again.

The two trolls glanced at each other, both looking nervous and uneasy. Karkat was the first to speak. "Should we do something to help it?"

Terezi shook her head. "Just... oh, it's moving again..." Their attention was brought back to the one egg, which stirred oh so slightly before a tiny nose was visible through the opening that had been made, taking its first breaths.

Once again, stunned silence took over Karkat and Terezi. It didn't sink in quite at first. This was... their grub, if only the first of the brood to hatch.

As the grub wriggled and puched its way out, they were surprised to see that its body was white, with a few dark blots which were probably its internal organs, slightly visible through translucent skin. "Is that normal?" Karkat asked. He reached over to touch the newborn, but Terezi pulled his hand away.

\---

Four grubs. A good number. They were starting to develop a tinge of color on thier white bodies. The first one that hatched already looking a shade just like Terezi's.

But Terezi couldn't stop staring expectantly at that fifth egg. It hadn't even stirred.

Karkat must have noticed her concern, with her paying more attention to that unhatched egg rather than their newborn offspring. "Hey." He started, to get her attention. "It just happens. Not all of them hatch." He tried to sound reassurring, but Terezi only blinked her sightless eyes in response.

He didn't try to stop her when she reached in and gingerly picked up the egg and held it in her palm. She brought it in close, sniffing it, touching the outer membrance delicately with her fingertip. She was well aware that mortality was just another everyday thing with grubs, but part of her just refused to let it go.

Without giving much thought, she poked her little finger claw into the membrane and carefully opened it. Once Karkat realized what she was doing, he tried to pull her hand away from the lifeless egg. "Whoa whoa what the fuck, Terezi, what are you doing?"

She replied with a "Shhhh" and swatted her matesprit away, as she tenderly pulled down the membrane of the egg to reveal a perfectly developed but motionless white grub curled inside. Finally, she accepted it. Four out of five of their brood hatched. She let her hands, with the stillborn grub, rest on her lap and her head hung low.

Feeling like a complete sap and not giving a single fuck, Karkat scooted closer and put his arms around hit matesprit, nuzzling into her neck reasurringly. "Look." he whispered, "We have four grubs. Four strong and healthy grubs. We've done it."

Terezi finally returned her attention to her surviving young, leaning over the tank and sniffing. They were already starting to suirm about, testing their bodies out. Their colors stood out a bit clearer now. One was her own shade of teal, while another had a similar, but somehow even bluer shade. Another grub was a light yellowish green, and the last one was a dull gold. Thier eyes were still sealed shut, and they hadn't made a sound yet, but they were already staring to resemble normal troll grubs.

She couldn't hide her smile, now. She leaned back against Karkat, returning his nuzzle with a soft kiss. "They're perfect." she crooned, savoring the celebratory moment. Looked like their specie had a fighting chance, after all.

As she reached up to hold him, her attention was brought back to the grub in her hand. The one that didn't make it. The mood took a nosedive once again as she gingerly stroked the tiny body. "I'm sorry, little one..." she breathed, holding it close to her. Karkat rested his chin on her shoulder and gazed mournfully at the still grub. He couldn't blame Terezi for being a little heartbroken. A loss is a loss. He wrapped his arms around her from behind and closed his eyes for several moments, only focusing on comforting his matesprit.

..."Karkat?" Terezi called, nudging him. There was a sense of urgency in her voice. "Karkat? Karkat!" Finally, he shook his head and gave her a confused look. "What??"

She still held that grub in her hands. It was all the way out of the egg now, and she was tenderly stroking down its back. "Look, look." she whispered. She held the little white grub closer to his face so he could see. It seemed as still as ever... wait, save for the very slight rippling movement down its body.

Terezi had to say it, even if it was already made clear to Karkat. "It's breathing... it's alive..." She was grinning ear to ear as she brought the grub close to her so she give it a gentle lick. Just this once, Karkat couldn't bring himself to complain about her strange habit. Instead, he did something truly rare- he laughed. He honestly and genuinely laughed, pulling Terezi into a tight hug, while being mindful of the grub of course, and kissed her deeply.

"Five." he murmurred against her lips. "Five grubs."

\---

Terezi made no attempt to get Karkat's attention as Xarxet crawled over the pillow to his sleeping father. The grub paused to bat at his hair, before hoping forward and biting the tip of Karkat's ear.

Karkat was aware of his "attacker" and merely batted at the grub with a muffled grumble, to which Xar responded by scooting back and pulling hard on his father's ear.

Karkat reached over, pinched the back of Xar's neck, lifted him up, and dropped him on Terezi's lap. "Play with your kid." he grumbled, then flopped back face-down onto the pillow.

\---

Karkat sat on the floor and drummed his fingers on the hardwood floor enticingly, keeping an eye on the grub hiding beneath the dresser. He pretended to be pay attention to something else as Saonum crept forward in a poorly executed attempt as being stealthy.

Karkat waited until the little golden grub lunged for his hand, then gently flipped the grub onto his back and tickled his belly, elliciting sharp squeals and chirps from his son. Karkat couldn't help but smile as Sao bit down on his fingertip, holding fast as Karkat gently shook his finger side to side. The little grub growled softly, which only made it all the cuter.

"Karkat..." Terezi said in a scolding tone. "Stop that."

"I'm just playing with him, come on." Karkat replied.

"You're teaching him that it's okay to bite! What if he starts biting his broodmates?"

\---

Karkat and Terezi lay facing each other on the bed, but their focus was on the small space between them, which was occupied by their newborn grubs.

They were tiny and awkward, but they recognized their parent's touch and nestled closer to their hands with soft grunts and coos. The two trolls just glanced at one another and smiled, returning their attention to their hours-old young.

No words needed to be exchanged. The only sound they made was the gentle thundering of their purring, to which the grubs reponded to with tiny purrs of their own, which were short and broken to the rhythm of their quick little breaths.

They spent their first day there, in the warmth and safety of their parent's bed, with the two trolls forming a barrier around them, keeping them away from the outside world. It was too soon to show them the world outside of this room. The little ones barely had the strength to hold their trembling heads up for over five seconds.

They slept through the day well enough, though both Karkat and Terezi found themselves waking frequently just to check on the brood. The grubs began to stir around sunset; the biggest of them had already open its eyes and was ready to investigate its mother's face, much to her delight. "Hi there..." she whispered, stifling a giggle at the feeling of the grub's wet little nose pressed against her chin. The feeling of her breath on its face made the grub lean back and squint at her.

Slowly, she reached down and gingerly stroked the grub with her fingertip. The grub closed its eyes and began a slight back and forth rocking motion, clearly enjoying the touch. "You know who I am, don't you?" she breathed. "Of course you do." She took her hand away, and the grub squeaked in protest, moving closer to her and finding shelter beneath her chin.

Terezi turned her attention toward Karkat, who was still fast asleep. His hand, however, was left amongst the other grubs, who were all snuggled against it. "Big dope..." she muttered as her lids grew heavy once more.

\---

Terezi felt something nudge her foot, and she peeked under the table to find Cirera, butting her ankle and trying to get her attention. The red grub grunted and pawed at the end of her jeans, looking up to reveal something hanging from her mouth. Terezi felt a spike of concern, unsure of what her daughter had gotten into. "What have you got in your mouth, there?" She asked, scooping up the grub and placing her in her lap.

Cirera purred and dropped her prize onto her mother's lap- a fat spider which she had killed.

"That's my girl..." Terezi crooned, stroking Cirera's hair. The grub purred, with her head high and little chest puffed out with pride.

Karkat peered over from the other room. "What is she up to now?" he asked.

Terezi grinned and held up the prize for Karkat to see. "Our little read has killed her first spider!" She replied.

Karkat blinked. "A spider-killer, huh?" he said to himself. "Like mother, like daughter."

"Hey!"


	3. Unfinished Shipping Olympics submission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From round one of the Homestuck Shippings Olympics. I was a member of Team Karkat <3 Terezi. The actual prompt was "bringing back old cliches." However, since the title of the prompt said "resuscitation", I figured that was the subject of the prompt, hahaha. So I wrote this, though it was never finished.
> 
> The subject I chose was the aftermath of Karkat's battle with his denizen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was written in a style I use sometimes where I sum up the entire plot in italics and brackets, and then go back and flesh out each bracket into a paragraph.

[Terezi and Jack hiding out nearby as Karkat fights his denizen]

The only thing Terezi focused her attention on was the sounds of a battle echoing through the castle walls. It felt slightly odd for her to reply solely on hearing instead of smell for a change. Besides, there wasn't much else to do while waiting in the castle of LOPAH's denizen, while Karkat fought his battle. Jack seemed uninterested in chatting, not to mention how uncomfortable he made Terezi feel, so there was nothing else to do but sit and listen.

[They hear the battle seemingly end. Terezi assumes its safe to go out]

The screams and crashes crescendoed into a terrifying din, a sound akin to a building collapsing in on itself coupled with the screech of grinding metal, and then died down, and ended with a boom that could be felt through the floor. An eerie silence followed, save for the cracking and crumbling and the ringing in Terezi's ears. "Sounds like it's over..." She got up and peeked around the corner, toward the scene of the fight. She could already smell the red haze and the dust wafting out into the hallway. She had to go check it out. Jack simply got to his feet and followed behind, silently. He figured if the monster was still alive, it'd better eat her first.

[Enter the arena, dead denizen sinking into the blood, no sign of Karkat]

The arena was a gigantic circle with walls that seemed to go forever upward, with no sign of a ceiling. Upon entering, Terezi found that there was only a small platform to walk on before it dropped a considerable distance down into the blood pool beneath. It looked like there was supposed to be more of it, but it had crumbled into the pool below, likely from the denizen's thrashing.

Speaking of the denizen, there it was, partially sunk into the blood, clearly dead. It had only taken Karkat about ten minutes to kill it, which wasn't that impressive considering he could take down most mid-size to large enemies in ten seconds. Terezi began to search for her victorious leader, sniffing around the arena. The overwhelming red certainly messed with her concentration, but it should not be that difficult to find him. Where was he...?

[Jack points out sickle jammed into the edge of a rock ledge high above]

It was Jack who spotted something stuck in the rock at the edge of the platform. He reached down and pulled out Karkat's colorful weapon, Homes Smell Ya Later. "Well, this ain't promising." He said, peering down into the pool below. Terezi quickly joined him, smelling the jagged broken ledge and the chunks of rock sticking out of the blood. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. She knew what happened to Karkat. "Oh shit..." was all she said.

[She goes in to save him; Jack tries to stop her but does nothing]

Frantically, she searched for a safe way down from the ledge to the pool below. There was a steep slope down to the pool's edge. It looked risky, but it was the only path that wasn't a sheer drop. As she went to slide down, Jack grabbed her by the back of her shirt. "And just where in hell do you think yer going?" he snapped. "Trying to join him in death?"

Terezi responded with a snarl as she swatted his hand away. "I am not going to just leave him!" With that, she carefully skidded down the steep slope, coming to a shaky halt right where the slope submerged below the blood.

[Momentary hesitation]

She hesitated. She had never liked being in water, even before she was blinded. Now that she relied on sense of smell, being submerged was even more frightening. Not to mention the red was overpowering. In any other case, this would have been a dream come true for her, being surrounded by so much delicious red. But now, she panicked. She really had no choice but to go in. Karkat was drowning.

[Terezi carefully lowers self into pool; it's deeper than she thought]

Still hanging onto the rock, she stepped into the blood pool. The smell hit her with renewed ferocity, but she brushed it off and waded forward precariously. After a few steps, she suddenly stumbled. There was no more ground beneath her feet. It was a drop-off into the deep end. Ignoring every instinct that told her not to, Terezi slowly crouched down until her fingertips touched the gravelly bottom, and gently hopped off the ledge and into the deep.

[She quickly begins to panic/flail/grope around]

She instantly wished she had taken a deep breath first, because the first thing she did was gasp as she went under. She clawed at the rock, trying to hold herself above while she coughed, but the liquid was thick and difficult to move in.

[She finds Karkat's hand and pulls him close and begins to fight upward]

[She gets close to the surface and starts to lose herself]

[Jack grabs her by the back of the shirt and yanks her up out of the blood pool]

[Terezi drags Karkat out and takes a moment to cough and recover]

[She begins calling to Karkat for him to wake up, and is a bit snide]

[When she gets no response, she lifts him by the shoulders to shake him a little]

[She begins to realize that he's no longer with her]

[She goes into shock/denial/grief]

[Jack interrupts her by knocking her to the side and begins to pump Karkat's heart]

[Terezi watches on in confusion; Jack explains to her]

[He makes her take his place; gives her orders]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm. I might end up finishing this one since I kinda like it. Maybe when I find the motivation ahaha.
> 
> ALSO, BONUS DRAWING I MADE OF KARKAT'S DENIZEN: http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9401/denizen.jpg


End file.
